1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light divider.
2. Related Art
There is a variety of known technologies for dividing a single light flux into a plurality of light fluxes. JP-A-2009-248173 discloses a technology in which laser light is allowed to be incident on an acoustooptic device and the acoustooptic device divides the laser light based on a diffraction phenomenon. In this process, the angle of diffraction is modulated by an acoustic wave signal. JP-A-11-5186 discloses a technology in which no light guide but half-silvered mirrors are used to divide laser light into a plurality of light fluxes. Japanese Patent No. 2,888,602 discloses a technology in which a plurality of half-silvered mirrors disposed in a light guide divide light.
The technology described in JP-A-2009-248173 is problematic in that the incident light cannot be divided into a plurality of light fluxes parallel to each other. The technology described in JP-A-11-5186 has problems of difficulty in optical axis alignment, high susceptibility to dust, poor mobility, and others. The technology described in Japanese Patent No. 2,888,602 is problematic in that the interval between divided light fluxes or the light exiting angle cannot be designed independently of each other and the manufacturing cost is high.